Fifth Day of Light, 51st of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Electra): Happy Solstice! The Fifth Day of Light, the longest day of the year, the day when the forces of darkness and light are most out of balance in favor of the Sun. At exactly 4:24 a.m. this morning, days stopped getting longer, reached their maximum, and started getting shorter. 

Consideration of the Summer Solstice played a big part in devising the New Revised Universal Solar Calendar. It's why this season is named "Midsommar" and I wanted one of the five Days of Light to fall on the Solstice. Each of the six seasons in the New Revised USC has a special five-day week, and even though the five Days of Light fall in late July in old Angus MacLise's original USC, that would be next season (Dog Days) in my New Revised USC, so I moved them to Midsommar to fall on the Solstice. 

It's all deliberate, even the AI images. The seasonal five-day events allow me the opportunity to develop themes in the images, and the Days of Light allowed me to lead up to the Midsommar avatar, the Sun Girl, with her head tilted today at roughly the same angle as the Earth's axis, with half her face in shadow and half in light. And here you thought I was just losing my mind with nonsense and AI slop. I may be, but at least there's method to my madness. 

There are only ten more days left to the Midsommar season. During those days, and the Dog Days that follow, the Earth will move from imbalance towards equanimity, towards the Autumn equinox, when the forces of light and dark are equal and balanced, in equanimity. Days will get shorter and nights longer, even though we probably won't notice it for quite a while yet.

It's not surprising that in this moment of stasis between the momentum of days getting longer and days growing shorter, today's I Ching gave me Li, Hexagram 30, in stasis with no moving lines. "Li" is Brilliance, light, the Sun above and the Sun below, on today, the day with the most Sun of the year. The two identical trigrams that make up the hexagram each represent the Sun's movement in the course of a day. 

The oracle for the hexagram suggests that the best leaders don't wield an ax but raise a lantern. Those who try to rule by fire are defeated by fire. Those who rule by bringing light to others join an ever-increasing radiance. To be a source of light to others, the trigrams representing the clockwork-like movement of the Sun indicate that one's spiritual practice should likewise follow a fixed routine, that one should be regular and persistent in their spiritual practice. I take this as an affirmation of my practice of alternating-day sitting, sitting even when I don't necessarily feel like it - especially when I don't necessarily feel like it. Such is the way of Li on this fifth and ultimate Day of Light.